Dear Friends:

We live in an intensely dangerous period of time–for ourselves and for the world.

The turbulence continues to accelerate. This is the polycrisis–the quickening interaction of environmental, social, technological and economic stressors–leading to unpredictable future shocks of increasing frequency and intensity.

In the perception of many in the West, the first poster child for the polycrisis was the climate emergency. Then came COVID. Then the Ukraine War. And now dangerous levels of inflation, supply chain breakdown, and both political and financial instability.

In other parts of the world, the perception is different. Many have lived for decades and beyond under polycrisis conditions. “The future is already here,” the sci-fi great William Gibson observes–“it’s just not very evenly distributed.”

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In the United States, we are acutely aware of the transformation of the Supreme Court. The Court ruled on three emblematic conservative causes–bibles, bullets and babies. They promised to rule on whether states can set their own rules for elections without review by state superior courts.  

Republicans have locked in control of 70% of state legislative districts for the coming decade.  The mid-terms look promising for them. They also look well positioned for the 2024 presidential contest. Continue reading →